Triple jumper Kumarasiri eyes World Championship spot
View(s):Chamal Kumarasiri, who established a new meet record in Men’s Triple Jump, is one of the 12 athletes included in the team that will represent Sri Lanka at the 61st National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship to be held in Chennai, India from June 10 to 14. Alongside Kumarasiri, Roshan Dhammika, the 100m hurdler who set up a new meet record at the recently held Athletic Nationals, will also try his luck at the five-day event.
Joining the duo are Women’s 100m champion Amasha de Silva, who will lead the Women’s 4x100m team that includes Medhani Jayamanne, Shalinda Jansen, Lakshika Sugandhi and Rumeshika Ratnayake. Under skipper Aruna Dharshana, the Men’s 4x400m team will include Isuru Lakshan, Pabasara Nilu, Dinuka Deshan and Rajitha Rajakaruna.
However this meet is of high significance to triple jumper Kumarasiri to achieve a slot in the forthcoming IAAF World Athletics Championships set to be held in Oregon, USA from July 15 to 24. Kumarasiri is currently placed at 47th in global rankings, and if he intends to enter the world event, the ranking should be improved to 32nd.
His best so far comes as 16.40metres, which was achieved with a new meet record at the Centenary National Championship held two months ago. If he could clear 17.14metres, Kumarasiri could automatically qualify for the world event, despite failing to reach the ranks. However, the qualifying deadline for the world event closes on June 26, and Kumarasiri will have to fire up his performance if he is to achieve the goal of representing Sri Lanka in the USA.
Kumarasiri will become the sixth Sri Lankan athlete in line if he manages to qualify for the world event besides sprinter Yupun Abeykoon, steeplechaser Nilani Ratnayake and javelin thrower Sumedha Ranasinghe. Others in line are high jumper Ushan Thiwanka and long jumper Dhanushka Sandaruwan.
Abeykoon, who bettered the Men’s 100m national record a fortnight ago, Ratnayake and Ranasinghe are within the qualification quota according to their current world rankings, but Thuwanka and Sandaruwan are closer to the qualification quotas with their present global standings.
Abeykoon nearly achieved the qualification standard of 10.05secs in the Men’s 100m, when he claimed the Sri Lankan and South Asian records by achieving 10.06secs in Germany. He is presently ranked 35th in the world and the IAAF event opens a total of 48 slots, which guarantees Abeykoon’s entry.
Ratnayake, also ranked 35th according to present global rankings, have not taken part in any regional or international meets recently, which could be a setback for the 31-year-old steeplechaser. Her best yet marks as 9:40.24 and she will have to achieve 9:30.00 to comfortably enter the IAAF event.
Ranasinghe is presently placed 29th in the global rankings in Men’s Javelin Throw, which opens doors for 32 athletes. He is guaranteed of a slot at the world event, which has an entry standard of 85metres. Ranasinghe’s best comes as 83.04m, but this season the thrower’s best clearance came as 82.18m.
High jumper Thiwanka is presently ranked at 33rd while long jumper Sandaruwan is placed 42nd in the world. Both these events only have entry quotas of 32 slots each. Triple jumper Kumarasiri, who has a tough task ahead of him at the Chennai event, is the third inline of the three athletes eager to enter the world event.